According to common lore, the appendix is the archetypal redundant organ - something that once was of value, but now worse than useless baggage.
Not only do they take up space in our guts, each year people are rushed to hospital for an appendectomy.
If untreated, it can rupture, causing inflammation in the peritoneum - the tissue that lines your abdominal cavity. That can trigger a lethal response from your immune system called sepsis.
Fatalities from appendicitis are extremely rare in Australia, rating at 0.05 per 100,000 people. In Central Africa, numbers are considerably worse, with 2.31 deaths per 100,000.
In wealthier countries, the rate of appendectomies is higher than the rate of appendicitis, with many being performed to prevent rather than treat the disease. It's estimated that 36 appendectomies are required to prevent one case of appendicitis.
That peritonitis is life threatening was well known to Soviet surgeon Leonid Rogozov.
In 1961, as the only doctor at a remote Antarctic research station, he faced a horrible decision.
Feeling nausea, weakness, and growing pain in his lower right abdomen, he knew his appendix had to come out.
With the help of two untrained assistants and some novocaine, he performed a now-famous act of self-surgery.
The procedure saved his life and he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. Readers with strong constitutions will find a photo on the web of Leonid with his offending appendix.
Self-surgery aside, more recent thinking suggests that perhaps the appendix is useful after all.
The vermiform is a muscular wormlike structure at the top of the gut, home to beneficial bacteria. Speculation is that from here they can perform guard duty to ward off hostile bacterial invaders.
The appendix is a safe haven from which they emerge during infection or after your healthy gut flora has been knocked around by antibiotics.
In an age where we wash benchtops, hands and toilets with antibacterial concoctions, you'd think that all bacteria are the enemy to be eliminated.
Yet this example should challenge our thinking, because our skin, our gut, every part of our bodies are complex bug ecosystems.
It means your body is a really rich ecology interacting with bugs, some nasty, some friendly, and some just freeloading along for the ride.
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